East Harwich satellite fire station gets needed boost

Tuesday morning brought a blitz of emergency calls for the Harwich fire department. And all of them were in East Harwich.

By Jamie Balliett

HARWICH — Tuesday morning brought a blitz of emergency calls for the Harwich fire department. And all of them were in East Harwich.

Within an hour, there were two motor vehicle accidents and one medical call. And to think, it isn’t even summer yet.

According to Fire Chief Norman Clarke, staff was able to handle the rush because one of the three calls did not need an ambulance response. However, the situation is a reminder of the importance of the department’s satellite station located at the intersection of Routes 137 and 39.

But staffing the station has been a budgetary challenge in the past, leading to periodic closures.

“This level of calls doesn’t happen all the time but we have to be prepared for it. From time to time, stuff like this occurs,” he said of the incidents on Pleasant Bay Road, Grist Mill Road, and Kimberley Way, all within a few minutes.

Last week the department got a much needed infusion of $146,353 from town meeting to help pay for overtime to keep station two running with staff 24 hours a day.

If the department had not received the funding, it would have been forced to close for approximately 20 percent of the time, resulting in an increase in emergency call times to East Harwich of up to eight minutes. That much time can mean a lot when a life is threatened or a fire spreading.

The chief was very pleased to get the funds and offered praise to the staff and school committee of the Monomoy Regional School District, which made the boost in funding possible by turning back that amount from their own budget.

“I appreciate and congratulate the Monomoy School District in their move to acknowledge the needs of the entire community. They looked at the situation and were able to help us out and that sets a really good tone for the whole community,” he said.

The $146,353 will go towards paying for staff overtime and not for permanent new staff salaries, which would be considerably more expensive.

“There has been a need for a solution at station two for several years. This is a first step and although somewhat of a Band-Aid, helps insure better service for the residents right away,” he said.

The next action, according to Clarke, is to plan a road map for the sustainable funding for station two. The town will perform a study of what it would cost to fully staff station two with new firefighters and move away from just using overtime funds, which are costly.

“This isn’t a simple solution. A new firefighter costs between $80,000 and $100,000 a year, considering all the training and other costs. Two more staff members on one shift means you have to pay for the time of eight personnel through all the shifts. Then the cost of a new ambulance would have to be estimated,” he said.

“We really need to do some homework and study it. Then we can go back to the public to see what the residents think,” Clarke added.

The fire department has seen a steady increase in calls over the last six years. In 2008, there were 3,629 calls but by 2013, that number crested above 4,000 for the first time.

“I don’t expect the volume to jump 20 percent next year but it’s been a steady increase and it will continue to go up as the town grows,” Clarke said. “But the goal right now is to handle up three to four calls at once across the entire town. I think that’s reasonable.”